String of Dates
by Arlia'Devi
Summary: A archive of Inu/Kag oneshots. Each date holds significant in their relationship; paving the way through, every memory like a stepping stone across a raging river. Latest: Kagome has a moment of self doubt. InuYasha's there to snap her back reality.
1. 14th of September, 1497

**A String of Dates**

By Arlia'Devi

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in InuYasha, nor do I make any profit from this work. All rights go to Rumiko Takahashi and associates.

A/N: I've been a little disheartened lately; professional writing is such a tough, tiring industry, so I took a break from my books and short stories and such, and I wrote this. Don't tell anyone. :]

The time frame for this story is different with each memory.

Please, friends, read on.

**A String of Dates**

Each date held significant in their relationship; every date paving the way through, every memory like a stepping stone across a raging river.

By Arlia'Devi

**-X-**

_14th of September, 1597, Feudal Era_

Miroku always said 'everything happens for a reason', InuYasha didn't know how true that was and challenged the monk by telling him so.

"Give me an example then," offered Miroku, his hands outstretched and willing to accept defeat of his mantra should he be proved wrong.

InuYasha growled and thought. "Shippou's parents being killed."

The little fox whimpered at the memory.

"As bad and as sad as it was," explained Miroku in a calm, hypnotic proclaim. "He would have never left his field, met us, and travelled all over Japan, protecting us in some dire situations." InuYasha knew exactly what situations those had been and his eyes darted to the woman sitting beside him. She wouldn't have been with them had it not been for said fox tyke. Miroku continued on. "Shippou is a valued member of our group, you know InuYasha."

The hanyou growled softly, and, never one to back down, wracked his brain to think of another example. "Kagome failing her test last week."

The girl of the future whimpered at _that_ memory.

"Why," Miroku thought that to be an easy one. "If she hadn't failed that exam, then she wouldn't have had to take that make-up exam that made her stay an extra day, and she would have been presented upon her return with that very aggressive and blood-thirsty pack of weasel demons who were sniffing around the Bone eater's well."

"It's nice to know that no amount of studying will alter my results at all," sighed Kagome. "It's all divine intervention."

But InuYasha wasn't willing to give up.

"Naraku's birth, me bein' pinned to that tree for fifty years and Kikyou dying."

The entire group whimpered.

"Oh, my good hanyou friend," Miroku said, almost laughing at how easy that had been. "For Naraku's birth, as abhorrent and loathed as it is, we never would have met each other, I would have never met the lovely Kagome, or the even lovelier Sango, Shippou, Kirara or yourself, InuYasha." The monk shot a lovey-dovey look towards his woman, who blushed slightly. "And being pinned to the tree gave you a little more patience – and you didn't have to fight in that cat war, of which you might have died."

"And Kikyou's death?" edged on the hanyou, his eyes glinting feral and a warning growl erupting from deep within his throat for the monk to say something unbefitting. What positives could have ever come from the priestesses' death?

"Why, InuYasha," smiled the monk warmly and his violet eyes flicked to the girl sitting beside InuYasha. "You would have never met the beautiful Lady Kagome."

The hanyou backed down then, said nothing and never, ever challenged Miroku's beliefs again.

**-X-**

There are a few more parts to this chapter-story, and I honestly can't believe I'm starting another, but please stay tuned to other chapters I'll upload soon.

~ Please** review**. I do love them.

Until next time,

**Arlia'Devi**


	2. 3rd of October, 1997

**A String of Dates**

By Arlia'Devi

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in InuYasha, nor do I make any profit from this work. All rights go to Rumiko Takahashi and associates.

The time frame for this story is different with each memory.

**A String of Dates**

By Arlia'Devi

**-X-**

_3rd of October, 1997, Modern Era_

How the wench managed to convince him, he'd never know. Maybe it was because she batted her eyelashes, or he was feeling even more fuzzy warmness towards her than usual. Perhaps that had something to do with her acid-burnt feet, or the way she'd saved him from going full demon in the pit of the demon's stomach. Whatever the case or the reason may be, Kagome was hitched onto his back, always mindful of her injured feet and they travelled back to her time, through the Bone Eater's well.

When InuYasha jumped up into the darkened shire, an indicator that they'd successfully transitioned through time, a worrisome idea crossed his mind. "Oi, Kagome," spoke the hanyou roughly. "How ya gonna explain your feet to your family?"

"Oh…," muttered the woman on his back. "I dunno – I suppose I can make something up on the spot?"

InuYasha sniffed and then smirked, nudging his way through the shoji doors of the temple and into the sunlight on the brilliant day in Tokyo. "You don't have'ta worry," replied InuYasha and sniffed the air again. Yeah, the temple was too quiet. "Your family ain't here – they haven't been here for a while."

"I wonder where they could have gone," Kagome wondered aloud when InuYasha padded into the house, evidently very empty.

InuYasha spied a note on what they called the 're-fridger-a-tor' and handed it across his shoulder. Kagome read it aloud.

"Hi Kagome, we have gone to the coast if you come back from the past. Grandpa was complaining of a lack of salt water in his body – hope you're safe and wish you were here! Love Mama, Gramps and Souta."

Kagome humped as InuYasha put her gently down onto her lounge, in front of the television and proceeded to rummage for ramen, evidently very at home in Kagome's family's house. Kagome was a little upset she hadn't been told about such a spontaneous trip – that was it, spontaneous. Maybe if she'd known about it before, InuYasha would have let her go. Kagome looked toward the man who was boiling water on the stove – something he'd learnt rather quickly from her mother. The woman smiled; InuYasha always learnt things quickly when it came to his beloved ramen. But fat chance he would have let her go on the family outing, and Kagome realised if she had gone there would have been no one to protect InuYasha from himself, no one to protect Sango and Miroku and Kirara and Shippou from InuYasha, and she would have probably gotten back from her relaxing, mindless holiday at the coast to find the people she cared the most about dead.

She almost choked at that idea.

Perhaps Miroku was right - everything did happen for a reason.

InuYasha, however, was revelling in having Kagome home. Alone. He smiled as he made the ramen – two cups, 'cause he wasn't that inconsiderate. And if Kagome didn't feel like eating then they'd be happy to eat hers, too. He considered going back to the feudal era upon realising that her family was not home, but the idea of Kagome and he, alone, for a rather long period of time appealed to him in a way he couldn't describe. More or less, however, it wasn't that the hanyou couldn't describe the emotion; he just didn't want to acknowledge that the idea made him a little excited in more ways than one. The ramen was ready.

"Hungry?" he offered chicken ramen to Kagome, keeping the beef for himself.

"Very, thanks," Kagome smiled and InuYasha felt a twang of disappointment as his ramen went to someone who didn't love it as much as he.

The hanyou shook it off and said, sitting cross legged on the floor besides Kagome's legs. "How are your feet?"

"Good – they're a lot better," Kagome smiled. "I think I'm going to have a nice long bath after this, I deserve it."

InuYasha scoffed through his ramen as Kagome idly turned on the television and onto whatever was playing that second. These were moments she really loved; lazy, intimate moments with InuYasha away from the public eye and, well, private eye also of Sango, Miroku and Shippou. Usually, InuYasha didn't get too cosy, but in the private confines of the Higurashi family shrine, he allowed his cheek and bangs to brush against Kagome's knees and legs, leaning and nuzzling her softly as he ate the ramen and stared at the antics of the tiny 'tee-vee' people.

When Kagome ate only half of her ramen, InuYasha finished it off as the girl wandered upstairs for a long soaking bath. Finding her feet to sensitive to the hot water, however, Kagome positioned her feet uncomfortably leaning over the bathtub lip and proceeded to have a bath none-the-less, even if it was awkward and not remotely relaxing. At least her cotton pyjamas felt nice against her skin, and she redressed her feet when she'd run InuYasha his own bath. The water was lukewarm, bordering on too cold for Kagome's taste but InuYasha was so sensitive to temperature.

When she heard him splashing and cursing upstairs, Kagome couldn't help but smile and laugh, rubbing burn ointment into her blistered feet before wrapping them back up again. Slippers gave her heels wondrous relief from the ground and she watched television until InuYasha descended, his haori thrown over his left shoulder.

He didn't miss Kagome's change of attire; soft cotton shirt and… very short pants. The clothes didn't leave much for the imagination, but that didn't matter, she was only in his presence at the moment. There were no monks or wolfs or whatever villager suitors she had following her with that stupidly short skirt and clinging top. Her sleeping clothes; a navy top with white lace trimming and a pair of very short pants imprinted with what looked like colourful blue and navy owls. InuYasha suppressed the urge to smirk.

Cute.

"Your hair is dripping wet," cried Kagome, getting up from her place on the lounge and touching the crown of sopping, dripping hair and noticing that even his fuzzy ears were damp too. "What did you do to get so wet?"

"Slipped," growled the hanyou and plopped himself on the floor. The wet ends of his hair stuck to his white undershirt and dripped onto the floor.

"You'll catch a cold like that," huffed Kagome and padded to the linen closet to fetch a hairdryer. Her mother had 'adopted' Kagome's hairdryer as it was better than hers; and Mama argued there were no power points in the past to plug it all into. Kagome dug out Mama's old hairdryer and fired it up, intending on blowdrying InuYasha's hair dry.

To Kagome's surprise, InuYasha sat crossed legged and allowed Kagome to dry his hair. When she began to run her fingers through to rake out the knots, he too was indifferent, staring at the television with a stone-face. When Kagome dried his sensitive ears, InuYasha jumped but made no attempt to run away, or bark at Kagome not to touch him there. She dried his little ears, cleaned the inside of them out with a warm corner of towel, which in fact, she thought might have been pushing it, InuYasha let her.

It was only when she finished that Kagome realised the real extent on why InuYasha had been so obeying. And the tell-tale sign of a small snore coming from his throat was all the evidence she needed to conclude that InuYasha had indeed fallen asleep through the entire ordeal. His milky eyelids were closed, hands reaching into the constricting sleeves of his undershirt and gripping each wrist in a monkey-grip. Kagome smiled and took InuYasha's arm, heaving him up off the ground. The demon growled in protest.

"I guess I'm not the only exhausted one," muttered Kagome as InuYasha stumbled to his feet. Had they not defeated a demon recently, and all being rather seriously injured, Kagome may have mistaken InuYasha as getting on the sake with the monk the way he swayed and the glazed-over look in his eyes.

Eventually, Kagome pulled back her covers and the hanyou fell into her bed, although she had specifically dropped him on the floor. At no point had he woken up from their trek up the stairs and into her bedroom, and now he was blindly clawing his way to roll onto her bed. Her bed. Kagome growled, his loud snoring could be heard as she brushed her teeth. He was obviously contented to remain there. On her bed.

InuYasha took up Kagome's entire bed, his arms falling across the sides and drool running onto her precious pillow. Whimpering herself at how InuYasha – who didn't appreciate a comfortable bed or pillow, would get a better sleep than she would tonight, made her a little angry.

Kagome pushed the dog's arm to the side, which in turn, rolled his heavy body across the small space of the bed. Her arms tugged down the blankets from underneath him, and in all the roughhousing InuYasha remained dead to the world, snoring softly now with one arm propped behind his head and the other resting on his chest.

There was a small space between InuYasha's body and the wall, and a bit of pillow too. So, grabbing her top pillow, of which adorned the bed but was rarely used, the woman meandered her way around his body with careful steps on the plush mattress before slipping into the area and making herself comfortable. She pulled up the covers, enveloping them both.

Kagome was set on attempting to get some sort of peaceful sleep with the hanyou of her dreams sleeping right beside her. It seemed, however, that when she moved and had to get comfortable, she had disturbed the delicate balance of the bed and InuYasha shifted in his sleep to get comfortable.

And then he did what Kagome thought was going to happen, but had ignored such a possibility anyway. InuYasha, in his sleep, turned and moved toward the object of warmth suddenly in the bed and wrapped a strong arm around Kagome's waist, pulling her in so her back hit against his chest and his nose nuzzled into the crook of Kagome's neck.

With a squeak, Kagome attempted to get comfortable, wiggling out of the hanyou's grip only for him to capture her again and it become tighter. Eventually, Kagome was wearied from the antics and eventually drooped her head, settling for letting InuYasha spoon her if he really wanted to. His reaction in the morning would be well enough.

Instinctively, during the night, whenever there were tosses and turns within the small bed accommodating two, InuYasha always sought out Kagome again with a strong arm and nuzzled his nose into her hair, her neck, her shoulder blade and slept peacefully. Kagome slept in InuYasha's embrace, sometimes waking to find him brushing her thigh with his clothed one gently, their legs hopelessly intertwined and at times, her body moving into the embrace and her head resting on his chest.

In the morning, when InuYasha awoke, he found Kagome in his arms, sleeping peacefully and heavily and instantly his stomach clenched. He was still wearing his hakama and undershirt, but that didn't mean anything. Kagome certainly didn't smell like she'd been mated with – there was still that lingering fresh virginal smell about her that clipped his nostrils like sunlight and fresh cut flowers on a spring morning. But had he had a spectacular sleep.

The bed around them was in ruins – pillows and sheets kicked everywhere, one of her feet sticking out from the side and from underneath covers. Their legs, bodies, arms… _everything_ was tangled up, like she was suddenly apart of him physically – an extra set of everything.

He whimpered softly and rubbed his eyes. Kagome was nestled in beside him, her warmth burning through his undershirt. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd been holding her all night – perhaps sneaking into her bed just to. Where had he fallen asleep again?

"Well hello there, sleepy-head," yawned Kagome as she moved around against his chest. InuYasha propped his head up with an elbow.

"Um, hey there, Kagome," he greeted rather awkwardly. "D-did you sleep well?"

She nodded once and smiled. "We didn't do anything, InuYasha," assured Kagome. "I just brought you to my room to sleep and suddenly you were up in my bed."

"Sorry…" he apologised weakly, although apart of him wasn't all that sorry. In fact, it wasn't sorry at all. Kagome was pressed up against him very pleasurably, and he was lazy and lax. A soft, contented sigh escaped his lips and InuYasha closed his eyes.

Heeding the silent command, Kagome nestled back in, knowing that sometimes with InuYasha, silence was the real answer. It was rare for the man to let her sleep in over six in the morning, but these few weeks had been testing. They deserved to sleep if only for a while. His hand gently brushed her raven tresses from her face, revelling at the softness of her cheeks.

"InuYasha," whispered the woman softly. She got a grunt of acknowledgement as a reply. "We don't have to tell the other's about this. This can be our little secret."

A playful smile perked on the hanyou's features. "Yeah," he replied and then sighed again, nestling deeper into the warmth of the covers and his woman. "It's just us. Just for now."

Kagome smiled and slowly, slowly, drifted back off to sleep, eager to read the clock when it read ten, or eleven o'clock in the morning. InuYasha wasn't far behind. Sure, the didn't end up going back to the feudal era until around five in the afternoon, but both of them were completely relaxed. Miroku, who was feeling a lot better over the passing nights, gave InuYasha a cocked eyebrow and smirked, "Stay with Lady Kagome?"

InuYasha nodded once with narrowed topaz eyes almost daring the monk to continue, and Kagome remained silent. What had happened stayed between them, and not no one, not Miroku, or Shippou, Kaede, Kikyou or even Sango needed to know. It was their secret - an affection fledged in a confusing world where they weren't free to explore such feelings, a secret event in their secret love, developed slowly but no less deep. Kagome and InuYasha shared the moment, the secret moment, a bond, an piece of affection, something unspoken but always a lingering warmth.

Kagome smiled and glanced toward said hanyou, who was eating dinner and speaking with Kaede. It was their secret.

**-X-**

A WAFF chapter, I'll admit, but it was fun to write. The next chapter, however, is one of my personal favourites. If you enjoyed, please **review**!

Until next time,

~ **Arlia'Devi**


	3. 7th of November, 1497

**Disclaimer: **I do not own InuYasha in the slightest. All ownership and rights go to Rumiko Takahashi and associates. I make no money from this.

**A String of Dates**

by Arlia'devi

**-X-**

_7th of November, 1497, Feudal Era_

InuYasha glanced around and whimpered uneasily – there was no Kagome, no Shippou, and no Miroku to take over from here, to relieve the ever-growing uneasiness InuYasha felt as the scroll sat in his hands. Sango watched curiously as InuYasha handled the paper, wondering if the message was rather long and why hadn't he barked directions or interpreted it yet? The demon slayer peered over his shoulder.

"InuYasha?" she asked gently, watching him visibly jump at what seemed to be her unanticipated closeness.

"What?" he barked back.

"What does the scroll say – read it out," Sango said, eager to know what to do next on their little mission. The others were back at the manor they were staying – a demon was said to have been tormenting the village, but nor Miroku or InuYasha sensed the presence of a rather powerful demon, and Kagome had a test to study for, Shippou went wherever Kagome went and Miroku was sleeping through a warm afternoon quite relaxed. There was no sense to hoist all the team up – InuYasha and Sango, the professional and efficient demon slaying duo ventured up to the mountains with Kirara to slay whatever was terrorising the township below.

But now, InuYasha wished Kagome or Miroku or even, he shuddered, _Shippou_ had indeed come. At least then he wouldn't look such like a fool in front of Sango. Kagome he could bare to look the slightest fool around, but… but _Sango_… He held too much respect for himself and the woman to ever seem weak.

And this was being weak.

InuYasha grunted uncomfortably. The scroll he held in his hand were the directions from the manor's lord; Sango had taken it and found the cave alright – they'd climbed up the cliff and somehow InuYasha had gotten possession of said scroll. Now he had to read out the directions to the demon's nest. "It says go right – the scroll says go right down this channel," he pointed with a wobbling claw, not even sure if he was correct but rationalising there was a 50-50 chance he was.

"No it doesn't," Sango suddenly snatched the scroll away and read over the directions in Kanji, her brown eyes darting up and down. "It tells us directly to go left InuYasha – in fact, in no way are we supposed to go right at any point."

The hanyou huffed and trudged forward. "Fine, left it is," he growled lowly.

"InuYasha…" Sango muttered softly, rolling the scroll back up and tucking it into her waistband. "You can't read, can you?"

"Left!" he cried, indignantly ignoring Sango's question and marching forward. Sango, knowing better than to confront her friend about it again, followed wordlessly.

* * *

><p>After the demon slaying, InuYasha and Sango retreated back to the manor where they were given a large feast in honour of such a slaying. The demon had been nothing more than a over-grown, hairy badger and put up shit-all of a fight. They'd killed it, sealed the cave and then walked back to the manor in complete silence with InuYasha in the lead and Sango and Kirara lagging behind. InuYasha growled and ate his food in silence as Sango sat quietly talking to Kagome. Over the chatter of a party of people, he couldn't sift through other voices to hear what they were saying.<p>

"… I asked him to read out what was on the scroll, and he couldn't," hushed Sango to Kagome, making sure they were distance away from the hanyou, or the monk so that neither of them could hear. Shippou was outside, having stuffed his dinner down his throat and was out playing with human children. "He was very embarrassed – I didn't ask him about it again."

Kagome frowned slightly, feeling for her friends embarrassement. InuYasha was such a headstrong, stubborn man who believed that his honour and pride were the most important things to him. With that said, having Sango realise he couldn't read would have really damaged it, no matter how much he liked and respected Sango. He hated looking weak and stupid.

"Maybe I should talk to him about it," Kagome sighed.

"But then he'll know I told you, Kagome!" rebutted Sango.

Kagome shrugged. "He probably knows you'll tell me – just don't tell Miroku, we'll keep this to ourselves. Save his embarrassment."

Sango nodded and dinner concluded at around nine that night. InuYasha stalked off to bed without even a 'goodnight' to anyone, even Kagome, and the girl from the future realised he was still utterly humiliated from Sango finding out he couldn't read. When at half-nine, Kagome retired too, she knew InuYasha would be sleeping as there was an oil lamp burning softly in his chambers. Gathering up all her courage and a few text books from her backpack, she gingerly walked towards his shoji screen and tapped meekly. "InuYasha?" her soft voice sung.

"What?" was the snap from inside.

"Can I come in?"

"No. Go away."

Not heeding his wishes, the woman slid open the shoji door and stepped into InuYasha's room. The man had his haori off - the red robe tossed to the side of his bedding and was sitting cross legged with his topaz eyes staring hard at the ground.

"Sango told me what happened today," she knelt beside the boy but he refused to meet her gaze. "It's nothing to be ashamed of InuYasha."

"It ain't nothin' to be proud of either," he gritted.

"Your mother died when you were very young, InuYasha – everyone forgives that you didn't grow up like a normal child should, maybe you weren't taught all the stuff we take for granted." She touched his shoulder softly and when InuYasha didn't jerk away from her, rubbed it in small circular motions with the pad of her thumb. "You shouldn't feel ashamed or embarrassed about it, we're you're friends."

"I ain't dumb," he growled, claws fisted by his sides. Kagome smiled tightly, sympathetically.

"Not being able to read doesn't mean you're dumb, InuYasha – and your certainly not dumb," replied the woman. "You did what you could to survive when your mother died, and reading wasn't really all that essential. No one thinks little of you because of this InuYasha, and don't worry – it'll stay between me, you and Sango. No one else has to know."

InuYasha frowned but appreciated the sentiment all the same. Still, he had to stand up for himself. "I _did_ know how to read," he muttered, a little too lowly perhaps for Kagome to hear. "My mother taught me how to read and write when I was young," then he snorted. "But I don't need those things – I rarely need 'em. No one cares for your name in Kanji when you're bleeding out on the forest floor."

"So you forgot how to read?"

"I didn't know much, alright?" growled InuYasha and turned swiftly to the woman kneeling beside him. She'd gotten comfortable now, her legs folded like his and the books she had for school splayed out in front of them. "And I didn't need it. My mother died 244 years ago, I was seven and when she died I stopped bein' taught – so yeah, I forgot."

Kagome smiled softly and opened the pages to her text book. "Would you like to learn again?"

InuYasha shifted away from Kagome uneasily. "How? You gonna teach me how to read? What a joke."

"I won't do it if you don't take it seriously," huffed Kagome. "I'm willing to spend some time with you to help improve your reading skills and then you won't get embarrassed when you can't read a scroll or directions, or people's names."

InuYasha sighed and looked back at Kagome. She pointed to the text book opened at her feet, to the meaningless symbols and gobbly-goop that filled the pages. There were no pictures, just symbols upon symbols that he didn't understand. "Let's start from the beginning," she said calmly.

"I can't understand any of that," he growled and waved her off with a claw.

Kagome smiled and thanked her lucky stars that patience was one of her best virtues. She grabbed a black pen and pushed it into InuYasha's claw – telling him to hold it like a paintbrush and write anything he knew on a notepad she thrust into his lap. The hanyou huffed in annoyance but gripped the pen, a sort of futuristic paintbrush she called it.

InuYasha wrote his own name in black ink; the kanji marking the paper in fluid, neat strokes. "There," he took his pen away and admired his calligraphy. "InuYasha."

"Great work," she smiled and urged him to write another.

InuYasha wrote, beside his own name, the name of his mother in Kanji again, "Izayoi."

"Excellent InuYasha," Kagome smiled and flicked to the front of her book where scribbles of different coloured pens had marked the inside of the front cover. The woman pointed to a name in small, neat print. "What does that say?"

"That's your name," identified the hanyou. "Kagome."

"Great," she smiled and took the notepad from InuYasha. Kagome began to write down other symbols, and InuYasha identified them as the names of his friends, always spoken but never seen written down.

"Shippou," he pointed to the kanji and Kagome nodded. InuYasha grinned.

"You're doing well, InuYasha," smiled Kagome. "See? You'll get it."

For the next few weeks, in complete secret, InuYasha and Kagome met for his literacy lessons which had become a sort of ritual. When they didn't stay in manors, which was almost always, InuYasha and Kagome would sit under a tree and read from torchlight, sketching words and symbols on her notepad and reading stories. Kagome had taken some picture books from home when she'd told Mama that InuYasha was illiterate. He'd certainly learnt a lot from those books – Kagome realised as he almost read a full page by himself. Sango did a lot to keep Shippou and Miroku from stumbling in on InuYasha's lessons, but a dirtier conclusion had come from the monk when he'd realised the frequency and the length of time InuYasha and Kagome disappeared for.

"Are you hiding something from me?" the monk's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he interrogated Kagome across the fire. She shrugged and the monk's attention turned to InuYasha. "What about you, InuYasha – any dirty secrets?"

"Pah, get off my back," growled the hanyou and that was the end of that. Well, at least for Shippou it was. Miroku was still suspicious.

Now, however, the fledging couple sat underneath a thick pine tree, with InuYasha resting against the trunk and Kagome resting against InuYasha. She read the book aloud with InuYasha's claw trailing the kanji down the page, illuminated by the torch.

"You're getting really good, InuYasha," smiled Kagome and reared her head to look up at him. The hanyou dipped his head ashamedly.

"Yeah, well, it ain't like I'm not trying," he replied.

"No," spoke Kagome. "You've been trying very hard – you deserve a gold star."

"A gold what?" snapped the hanyou and Kagome laughed.

"A reward," she clarified. "Usually a gold star is given to a student that does a good job as a reward – but I don't have any gold stars to give you…" Kagome frowned. He really did deserve a reward for all his effort…

Suddenly, InuYasha shifted. Scared she'd frightened him off, Kagome shifted also, intending to get up and follow him down. That was until she was pulled back down to the ground by a firm had that had snaked around the small of her back. InuYasha had wrapped his arm around her waist and his hand was resting gently by her side. Kagome smiled as InuYasha dipped his head once again to hide the blush, but didn't make any attempt to remove the offending hand. Kagome smiled and touched his claw softly, suddenly knowing the best way to reward the hanyou without scaring him off. Kagome grinned.

Taking her hair up in both hands, Kagome pulled it back into a messy bun, exposing all of the creamy skin of her neck, nape and upper back to the hanyou who noticed it almost instantly. Kagome knew the neck and nape area was one of the most sensuous places a male could see in the feudal era, and also knew that InuYasha hated the baring of her neck to other males. It wasn't much, but she knew it would have meant more to him than anything else Kagome could have done at that moment, and more than he was willing to admit. She also noted the feral, wanting glint in his topaz eyes as he turned from the book he was once so engrossed in to her and his 'reward'. In pairing with the baring of skin, Kagome took InuYasha's claw, which played idly with the hem of her shirt, not daring to touch her too intimately and slipped it up her shirt and down her skirt, so he was touching her blazing hot flesh of her hip with his hand.

A hiss erupted from the hanyou's mouth feeling Kagome's hot skin against his palm, but made no move to remove it from between her clothes. Instead, he brought the woman in closer and nuzzled his nose on the skin she had so willingly bared to him; a dog demon who found nothing more arousing than a willing female's neck. The urge to lick the smooth skin to see just how smooth it was had been suppressed for a moment, his self-control suddenly flying out of the window. He darted his tongue between his lips, eager to taste, when Kagome said suddenly,

"So, how about we go onto the next page?"

InuYasha, quite regrettably, turned back to the book she held in her hands and began to read sullenly.

"… The little dog was upset that his master…"

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><p>I hope you are enjoying these quick little one-shots. This, as of now, I think is one of my favourites.<br>I'd like to mention **kittycatcher** and **HeidiBax **for reviewing the last couple of chapters. Thanks for the feedback and you are both stellar people.

I love to hear from reviewers, so please, type me a quick message when you hit '**review**!'

Happy holidays!

**~Arlia'devi.**


	4. 16th of November, 1497

**A String of Dates**

By Arlia'Devi

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters in InuYasha, nor do I make any profit from this work. All rights go to Rumiko Takahashi and associates.

The time frame for this story is different with each memory.

_16th of October, 1497, Feudal Era_

_Kagome has a moment of self-doubt._

**-X-**_  
><em>

The demon had been large. No, it had been huge – as tall as a skyscraper. And it had gone after Kagome. Not a good decision in regards to its life, since InuYasha had instinctively drawn that fang-born sword and given it a good taste of the wind scar. The demon, unfortunately, had avoided said attack and swiftly went after Sango. After getting a hit of the boomerang right to it's thick head, the lug of a thing swung it's arm back around and stalked after Kagome, who had ran into the dense forestry from the previous attack.

"This thing just won't die!" growled InuYasha, who was hot on its tail. But with Kagome in the forestry somewhere, using the wind scar to pulverise the demon was not an option as it would obliterate the forestry around it and thus, Kagome. Growling, InuYasha resorted to using his fists… and claws.

"Give me maiden," chanted the demon hypnotically, swinging for Kagome once again. "Must have maiden."

"Must have her, my ass," snarled InuYasha and proceeded to Iron Reaver Soul Stealer the hell out of that demon's face. A slashed face, however, didn't deter it and the maiden-eating demon staggered forward, slicing at the trees with his large hand and taking a large chunk out of the forestry.

A boomerang suddenly swung around InuYasha's head and hit the demon in the neck, severing his head slightly. Kirara sunk her fangs into the other side of the demon's neck and suddenly, InuYasha wedged his hands into the slice in the neck. Heaving up, the tear grew as the spinal cord severed from the head, flesh ripping and muscle tearing as InuYasha pulled the head from its body. Drenched in blood to the forearm, the maiden-eating demon's head rolled. Its body collapsed beside it.

"Stubborn bastard," InuYasha growled and shook off the excess blood from his forearms – blood coming off in ribbons to stain the ground. Then, he sniffed the air for Kagome's scent, but only finding it laden with demon guts and blood. He averted to hearing for her, but there was nothing. "Kagome!"

Nothing.

"Is Kagome over there?" called InuYasha to his companions on the other side of the demon's body.

"No," Miroku replied. "She disappeared into the forest – see if you can sniff her out!"

InuYasha grunted. He couldn't smell much over the demon's blood, of which was on the ground and on his being. Hearing a stream nearby, however, he opted for washing the blood off his person before putting nose to ground and sifting through Kagome's scent.

It was faint, but was there, and InuYasha scampered to find it, telling the group to set up camp somewhere and not to wait up. The group accepted that Kagome would be in safety, especially with InuYasha around. They complied and left the hanyou to his devices and then continued on the trek down the dirt road in search for cover for the night.

Meanwhile, InuYasha continued to track down Kagome, finding her scent easy to stick to but surprised at the distance she had covered in fleeing. Of course, only she and Sango were in danger – the two maidens of the group, untainted and pure. The demon they had come across would have been placid had the girls not been accompanying them, or had they both not been virgins. The demon held little interest in Miroku or Shippou or InuYasha. Kagome had fled well – fifteen minutes later he was still tracking her down, though the scent was getting stronger.

When all his senses registered on a small cave and a curled figure, InuYasha straightened up and grinned. "Hey there, Kagome."

The miko looked up from her knees, batting the tears out of her eyes. She'd taken refuge in a small, mossy stone cavern, an inlet underneath a stone cliff draped in meandering vines. The girl smiled softly as InuYasha walked closer. "Hi InuYasha."

"Killed that demon," he said and slipped under the reeds to rest by Kagome. He smelt the salty scent he never liked smelling and frowned. "Why are you crying? You ain't hurt are you?" There were small traces of blood in the air.

Kagome showed InuYasha the small scratches from tree branches that covered her arm. They weren't serious and that wasn't the reason Kagome was crying. The girl shrugged. "I was... I was just scared, that's all."

"Scared of what?" InuYasha asked, noticing that Kagome's stocked backpack was in the cavern with them. He pulled out her medical supplies and the spray she used to disinfect wounds. Taking her arm gently in one claw, InuYasha moved to sit beside her and sprayed the cuts with the liquid. Kagome sucked in a sharp breath at the sting and with the other hand, wiped away the stray tears.

"Just of the demon – I don't know what came over me, I just got really scared. I dropped my bow, and I couldn't get the arrows out of my quiver… Then I ran into the forest and realised I could get in the way of your wind scar," Kagome shrugged and sniffed. InuYasha let her arm fall again and rested his back on the other side of the small cavern. "So I came in here. I dunno; I just felt so useless."

InuYasha opened his mouth to speak, but it seemed that Kagome wasn't finished yet. Not by a long shot.

"And I can't help thinking how utterly useless I am here." The tears came again. "I mean, sure I can see the jewel shards but that's really all I'm good for. A-And then you said to me that your grandmother probably had better aim than I did, and I'm sorry that I shattered the jewel, alright InuYasha? I'm sorry!"

The hanyou, clearly taken back at the sudden anger of the usually placid Kagome, stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, Kagome… I…"

"And you always make sniggering remarks when I miss – and… and I'm sorry I'm not as good a priestess as Kikyo!"

"What?" growled InuYasha, the angry one now. "When the fuck have I ever said that?"

"You always compared me to Kikyo, she was a better priestess than me, a better archer, all the time when we started this journey!"

"Wench," he growled. "That was back then, this is now. When we started out, I hated you, and I hated myself and I hated everything around me."

"I don't ca-,"

"Kagome!" barked the dog demon. His topaz eyes flashed dangerously. "Will you listen to me for once before jumping to conclusions?"

Kagome, who jumped at the sudden spark in the hanyou's tone, nodded meekly and batted away the tears. Her skin was sticky and tight from crying for so long, and her throat was sore and inflamed from choking the sobs. But the miko allowed InuYasha to speak, inspecting the job he'd done on the cuts on her arm: disinfected and wrapped with a bandage. A skilful job.

"I dunno what's gotten into you, suddenly Kagome," he said lowly. "But if you really wanna know why I compared you to Kikyo when we were younger is because I had just woken up from a fifty year old sleep, with the last thing I saw bein' her face, alright?" Kagome turned her head away and shuffled into a darkened corner of the cavern. "Kagome, I don't give a fuck if this hurts you to hear, but ya gotta hear it: when I woke up I missed Kikyo." Her tears started again. "Ya gotta understand, the last thing I saw was her, and then when I woke up, I thought it was her again. I didn't know how long I was asleep for – five minutes," a wry grin crossed his face, "fifty years."

Kagome sniffed and cried a little longer. The man she loved so much, evidently, didn't love her as much as she thought – they'd shared her bed not ten days ago, laid by each others side all day and talked of things that didn't really matter. And now he was telling her that he still had feelings for Kikyo. Somehow, she wished that the ground beneath her would just open up and swallow her whole, at least then this cruel suffering would end.

"You smell sorta like her, you share the same soul, and I was mourning, Kagome – I'm sorry if I compared her to you, I was angry at the time and I missed her a shit load. There was unfinished business.I had hoped that you hadn't taken any of it really to heart, but I guess ya had…," his eyes laid downcast for a moment, a little ashamed at how cruel he'd been to Kagome approximately a year ago. "I-It's not like I was tryin' to lead you on, Kagome; I was only trying to keep it real. You're really a better shot now." He hoped that he hadn't hurt her too much, and hoped his sits would be lenient.

"Do you still?" her meek voice came from the corner.

"Still what?"

Kagome hesitated. "Miss her? Do you still miss her?"

A large sigh billowed out of InuYasha's nostrils and he took a moment to answer. "Let's just say, I'd miss you a helluva lot more if that demon had eaten you today." He shrugged and a flicker of a smile danced across his usually scowling face. Red highlighted his cheekbones.

Kagome smiled softly, resting her head on her knees. "Really?"

"Nah, wench, I'm just sayin' it," he teased lightly and the smell of tears slackened; there were no more. Then he opened his red-clad arms as an invitation. "Come'ere."

Kagome, as if her legs and arms moved on their own accord, shuffled towards the hanyou's outstretched arms. When she arrived between them with a small, shy smile, he enveloped them around her body and hoisted the girl into his lap. She nuzzled his chest softly, her hair resting just under his chin and InuYasha brought a claw up to push away a tear stained lock of long raven hair. "You know we don't do nothin' when I go see her," he murmured softly… almost, Kagome realised as she sniffed her runny nose, _lovingly_. A claw caught the few stray tears that were left, running lonely along dry river beds. "So what are all these tears for, huh, wench?"

Kagome laughed softly as the hanyou's claw ran soothingly up and down her back. "I dunno, I guess I was havin' an off day today, InuYasha. I let my feelings get the best of me, sorry..

"An off day, huh?" he nuzzled the crown of her head. "Don't say sorry for it. Just…," he shrugged. "Don't hold in what you feel for a year again, wench. Bad feelings will taint you; ya know, rise and fester if ya don't let 'em go." Then he smiled. "At least fuckin' tell me when you're upset – sit me to hell, at least then I know I gotta make it right. If you keep it to yaself 'n' I don't know then I can't do nothin' about it."

"You're right," Kagome nodded and sighed. Now, she was just content in lying in the arms of her favourite hanyou.

"I know," was his quick reply and for being so cocky, received a quick jab in the guts from Kagome's elbow. Outside, through the filters of the high forestry, rain began to pelt on the ground, coming down through the meandering ground cover that shaded the inlet like white sheets. "Looks like we might be in here a while," muttered InuYasha, who wasn't inclined to head out into the rain only to find the others, both he and Kagome drench and she probably catching a cold. Here, it was warm – she was warm, and there was food and good company, and privacy. InuYasha smirked. Demon killing and woman crying aside, it hadn't been such a bad day.

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><p>Thanks to the guys who reviewed the last couple of chapters,<strong> Kyoyama Daphne, HeidiBax<strong>, and **kokoronagomu**. Thanks so much, it's appreciated how you take the time out to review. I hope you enjoyed this oneshot, however belated it was. :) Please review.

~**Arlia'Devi**


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